UPDATE: The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is investigating claims that the victim may have accidentally shot himself.
Police are investigating after a man was shot dead in broad daylight in south London.
Police officers were called to Sydenham Road in London at around 3:45pm on Sunday afternoon after being alerted to suspicious activity.
Shots were later heard and armed police and the London Ambulance Service were called to the scene, Metropolitan Police have said.
A man in his 20s was discovered with gunshot wounds and he died at scene at 3:50pm.
The force said no arrests have yet been made and that a police presence remains at the scene.
Two men drinking in a nearby pub heard one gunshot, but believed it to be a car backfiring.
They said they had not heard any commotion before or after the shot.
One man, who did not want to be named, told PA Media: “We’ve heard three or four different stories - we’ve heard it was a guy on a moped, someone in a car and then that the (victim) did it to himself.”
Some witnesses in the area said they had heard reports the man had accidentally shot himself.
Forensic teams were seen photographing the scene in nearby Venner Road, where the body was still lying three hours later.
A 56-year-old woman living on Venner Road said: “He came to shoot someone else, but he ended up shooting himself.
“The bullet bounced off a car window. You can see on the car window where the bullet bounced off it.
“After it happened, the boy he came to shoot stood there filming him.”
She said she had been stuck inside the police cordon for three hours since the shooting.
“He’s been there for three hours covered by a sheet. No mum, no dad. It’s really sad,” she said.
She said she had lived in Sydenham for 25 years and there had been very few incidents.
“It’s a nice little area this. It’s up and coming,” she said.
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard said: “We are still in the early stages of the investigation and our enquiries into how the man came to be fatally injured continue.
“However, one hypothesis is that the man unintentionally discharged a firearm resulting in his fatal injury.”
Adam Cornish, 37, who lives close to the scene, said the area had been largely unaffected by rising levels of violence elsewhere in the capital.
Mr Cornish, who has a two-year-old daughter, said: “I’ve lived here for five-and-a-half years - you get a few idiots driving up and down too fast but nothing like this.”
Wayne St John, who lives nearby with his wife and 22-year-old daughter, also said it was a very safe area.
But he added: “There was a burnt out car a few days ago down by the traffic lights (on Sydenham Road). It was left there for about three days.”
Ellie Reeves, the Labour MP for Lewisham West and Penge, has tweeted her shock and sorrow at the incident. She wrote: “Shocked and saddened to learn of the fatal shooting in Sydenham this afternoon.
“My thoughts are with the victim and their family. This violence has no place in our community.”
Residents living nearby have said they heard reports of a car chase ending outside Lloyds Bank.
One man has been arrested in connection with the investigation and remains in custody at a south London police station.
Anyone with any information is urged to call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.